Life — December 1, 1921 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Three Christmas Tradition Cartoons (1921) This page presents three satirical scenes depicting Christmas customs, drawn by Rea Irwin. The top panel shows chaos in what appears to be a kitchen or dining area during holiday preparations—figures are colliding with flying objects and general mayhem, labeled "Gossamer 1321" (unclear reference). The middle panel, "Bringing in the Yule Log" (1521), depicts the traditional practice of bringing a large decorated log indoors for Christmas festivities. The bottom panel, "Priming the Plum Pudding" (1621), shows the old custom of preparing plum pudding, a central Christmas dish. A figure appears to be adding spirits ("Med Fordd Rum" visible) to the pudding mixture. These cartoons satirize holiday traditions through exaggerated domestic scenes, playing on the chaos and rituals of early 20th-century Christmas celebrations.